Minutes – 11 July 2007

UVLC Agenda July 11, 2007

• Call to order by the Chairman, Jerry Kyser
• Invocation-Chaplain Linda Campbell – St Cloud VA Hospital
• Pledge of Allegiance – Fay Hassie – Marine Corps League
• Recognition of visitors and guests and Commander’s of VSO’s.
• Veterans Lake in Ramsey. There is a traveling memorial with all of the fallen heroes from Minnesota
names etched in the granite. John Enstrom from Ramsey has a passion to honor the veterans and their
families. He is dedicated to the cause of not letting the current veterans be treated the same way that
the Vietnam veteran’s were treated. This is a non-profit group with a deep heart not a deep wallet.
Boyer Trucking Company donated a truck for the traveling memorial. Veterans Lake is a 40-acre
park, ½ mile of flowerbeds and nature walk. Mills Fleet Farm has donated 150 fishing rods to the
project. There will be more information in the future about events that will occur at the Lake.
• Reports from:

1. Chairman, Jerry Kyser-

Thanked all those involved in the WWII Memorial Dedication.

2. State Agencies

• Veterans Home Board-Sandy Larson-Chip is in New Orleans at a conference. On June 28th the long-term care commission toured the veterans homes. They took time to meet with veterans and volunteers. There were two rooms filled with people who were eager to talk to the commission. The meeting lasted six hours. There was a broad group of people communicating with the commission. The VA came back to do the resurvey. There were a lot of good things to say about the progress. The forth floor closure will occur the end of July. The purpose is consolidation. To make sure that we are utilizing staff in the best way possible. This is allowing a financial savings. The focus is to eliminate and lessen the use of pools. It is best to use their own nurses. The message is clear that until all of the issues with the health dept are cleared up, there cannot be future waiting list people taken. Comment
from Dr Petzel. “Great inspection and much progress has taken place.”

• MN Military Affairs – Troops are in Fort McCoy debriefing. The UVLC and VSO support is important to reintegrate the troops.

• MN Assistance Council for Veterans (MACV) Kathy Vitalis-July 1 is the start of the grant year. Over Fifty Counties are referring to MACV. The focus is turning to the Counties that are not referring Veterans. There will be a Charity Golf Tournament on August 6, 1:00 White Eagle Golf Club in Hudson, WI. For information and reservations: contact Jeff Lopez and Matt Hammer at macvgolf@gmail.com. They are returning Veterans who wanted to return some favor to the organization and organized the Tournament.

• Federal Agencies

• VISN 23 –Dr Petzel-Net work updates: VA Community Based Outpatient Clinics: Western Wisconsin- Mpls VAMC opened the long awaited CBOC in Hayward, Wis. on June4, and a CBOC in Rice Lake is expected to open soon. Minnesota: The Fargo VAMC opens a CBOC in Bemidji on June 12. Ribbon cutting ceremonies are planned August 17, 2007. Serving Returning Service Members. As of June 30, 2007-10,400 service members have enrolled at one of the facilities; 7,364 have received care. Mental health Initiatives:

• Mental health professionals will be assigned to all CBOC’s

• Mental health professionals will be available in an emergency 24/7 at all VAMC’s

• Mental health services will be expanded beyond normal business hours at all VAMC’s

• VA’s national Suicide Crisis Hot Line is scheduled to begin operating August 31, 2007. The toll free number will be announced soon.

• St Cloud VA Hospital-Barry Bahl introduced staff members. Charlotte, Nurse practitioner served as an Army nurse. Michael Mynczywor, social worker, former combat veteran is a case manager. Sarah Meisinger, social worker, is acting as the program manager for the returning veterans. Cheryl Thieschafer, nursing coordinator. They are all very excited to be serving returning soldiers. Each staff member is committed to providing seamless reintegration.
They are involved with the Fort McCoy demobilization. Bringing the 10-10’s to Fort McCoy to enroll. The two-year combat window is very critical. Often times you want to avoid the VA. There is a family support group partnered with the army national guard in the family integration. Individual deployment from the Naval is a concern. It is up to the unit to try to capture the individuals. The efforts with NG have been incredible. The same effort has not been there with the Reserve. They depend upon the units to activate the communication with the VA services. There is not the same follow up. They depend upon the Dept of Def. to communicate this. There is work being done with the DOD. 88th Regional Readiness Command.

• Barry Bahl- 20 exam room clinic has opened. The Hospice unit is open, and the parking lot is complete. Continue to grow. 3-4 % growth each year. 32,000 veterans have been served. Five times bigger in the past fifteen years. Second floor building one there will be more day surgery. An Orthopedic Surgeon does examinations one day a week. There have been about 1,500 veterans seen so far through the reintegration program.

• Ft Snelling Cemetery May 2007 Current FYTD Total to Date

• Total interments 398 3388 175,385

• Caskets 158 1687 144,088

• Cremations 197 1489 31,087

• Columbarium 43 210 210 1,260 female veterans

• WWII-153, Korea-43, Vietnam-43, Persain Gulf-2, Peacetime-2, Active Duty-1, Dependents139. Each Columbarium will have 5,000 niches. If there were a request to have a loved one moved from Fort Snelling to Fort Ripley there would be no cost from the Cemetery. The cost would be from the Funeral Co. doing the move to those persons requesting it.

3. Federal Congressional Representatives and Senators

Senator Norm Coleman – Greg Gorman- Ceremony of over 100 candidates for the academy. Senator Coleman Amendments to the Defense Authorization Bill: Yellow Ribbon Reintegration Act, Total Force GI Bill, NG and Reserve Retirement Modernization, Survivor Benefit Plan, Assignment Incentive Pay, Blackbird, Defense Travel System, NG End Strength, Nurse Aid Registry, Supply our Soldiers, Military Family Support Amendments.

6th District Representative – Michele Bachman – Karen Phipps is the military and veteran caseworker.

7th District Representative – Collin Peterson – Al Loehr-The budget will have a substantial increase in the year 2008. The increase was set at 6.7 billion. This marks the largest single increase in the 77-year history of the Veterans Administration and $3.8 billion above the President’s request for FY08. The Wounded Warrior Assistance Act takes the first stop to address the problems brought to light by the inadequate living conditions and the administrative challenges experienced by some patients at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. This is a friendly state. This is a state that has taken an interest in the Congressional Leadership.

Retiree Activity Day: August 24 at the Air Force Reserve Center at Ft Snelling-August 25 at Camp Ripley TREA, September 28 at Duluth and September 29 at Mystic Lake Casino. A DVD was shown that recorded pictures of the WWII Memorial Ceremony and WWII Aircraft FlyOver Video and pictures that took place on June 9th. The DVD can be ordered by contacting. www.seasonsrembered.org or Marci Jorgensen at 612-597-1156. The cost is $14.78, tax and mailing included.

There were over 4300 WWII Medallions given to WWII Veterans at the Memorial ceremony on June 9, 2007. The remaining Medallions were given to those who filled out the form but could not attend and to Veterans at the Vets Home. The WWII Medallion can be purchased until July 31, 2007 by contacting Jostens at 1-800-523-0124
Sid Schmuckler –Commander, Jewish War Veterans suggested that the Blue Star Mothers be an honorary member of the UVLC. This was unanimously accepted. There was no business meeting held.

Adjournment/ Next Meeting 9:30 am, Wed, August 1, 2007 Building 9 on the VA Medical Campus At the Wednesday, August 1st meeting parts of the WWII Memorial Dedication DVD will be shown again and the Folks who put it together will be introduced.

There were 33 members and guests in attendance.

Respectfully submitted by Jana Kyser